


To Be Cast Out

by allmagiccomeswithrice (bisaleth)



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Canon Compliant, slight blackice if you squint and tilt your head a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 03:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3834616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisaleth/pseuds/allmagiccomeswithrice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A scene based off some official concept art in which Pitch and Jack sit down and have a talk in Antarctica instead of fighting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Be Cast Out

**Author's Note:**

> The art that this is based off is at the bottom of the page.

I just couldn't bring myself to throw away the box of teeth.  No matter how angry I am about going after the teeth instead of returning to the Guardians like I was supposed to,  _this_  is my only chance at ever regaining any of my memories.  Three hundred years.  That's how long I've been without my memories.  I can't give them up now.  Frustrated, I perch myself on the ledge, putting the tooth box into my pocket and looking out into the blank, white distance.  It's comforting, somehow.

It starts to snow and I raise my hood.  Why do I always have to screw everything up?  Maybe I did something awful when I was alive.  This isn't the first time that thought has crossed my mind.  Maybe I was just as bad then as I am now, leaving a mess wherever go.  Hah, I can practically  _hear_  Pitch telling me 'I told you so'.

But I don't.  Instead, I hear the sound of wind, and nothing else.  

That is, until I hear footsteps behind me.  I turn my head to see Pitch Black himself, the blank expression on his face befitting of our surroundings.  I can't help but laugh cynically at his timing.  "If you're here to say 'I told you so', I already covered it, so you can go."

He doesn't immediately respond, instead opting to sit down next to me with his shadowed legs hanging off the edge, smiling with amusement at my comment for a couple moments before he finally speaks.   _"I'm not.  I knew from the beginning they didn't believe in you-  I think you knew too, and I was just trying to show you that.  They will never trust you."_

"Gee, thanks for that.  I feel so much better.  Good talk.  You can leave me alone now." Leave me alone, like everybody else does.  If it was going to turn out like this, I would have preferred to have been left out of this stupid war, too.

_"You don't want me to leave.  I told you, I always know your fears.  What about the Guardians?"_

"Hey, I'm a neutral party, remember?  I won't interfere anymore. I was only in it for my tooth box, and now that I have it, the piece of junk doesn't even work."  I sigh, glancing warily at Pitch.  I don't get this guy.  I don't get the way he's acting.  He's probably planning something.  Although, he's pretty good at seeming sincere.  "Why are you still here?"

 _"Because I understand."_ Yeah, right.

"You don't understand  _anything_."  It comes out more resentful than I meant it too, but it's Pitch I'm talking to, so I guess it doesn't matter how harsh I am.

He doesn't look at me anymore, instead staring off into the snowy landscape, though I get the feeling he's not really looking at anything.   _"No? **I**  don't know what it's like to be cast out?  To not be believed in?  To spend...hundreds...of years without your memories?  To  **long**  for a family?"  _He gives me a sharp glace before returning his gaze forward.  A family?  I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't heard it myself.  The very idea is laughable, but this time, I don't laugh.

He couldn't be telling the truth...but what if he was?  Maybe Pitch did understand.

No, he's the bad guy.  He hides under beds and scares kids for no reason.  I don't wanna be associated with him...but since when did Pitch lose his memories?  Why didn't anyone say anything?

 _"All those years, in the shadows, I thought 'no one else knows what this feels like'."_ Pitch speaks quietly, as though it's hard for him to admit these things out loud.  I might have leaned in just a bit closer, to hear him.   _"But now, I see I was wrong."_

Pitch raises his hand hesitantly, pausing for a second to make sure I wasn't going to back away.  I don't.  I'm not afraid. _"We-.."_  The hand is put on my shoulder, almost comforting, if it weren't the Bogeyman.   _"-...We don't **have**  to be alone, Jack.  I believe in you."_

It's true that if I could...if _we_ could...

 _"...And I know children will, too."_ He insists.I can't trust him.  I can't trust him. I can't trust him.

"In me...?"  I ask disbelievingly as I hug my knees and stare down at my feet, trying desperately not to get my hopes up.

 _"Why not?  You're certainly more fun and worth the attention than those morons.  Besides,"_ He leans forward in emphasis to get me to look him in the eye.  I do, trying to discern the exact amount of dishonesty there is in them.  It doesn't help.  There's not a single trace of deceit in his eyes, like he doesn't even need to lie to get what he wants. _"What goes together better than cold and dark?  We're perfect.  We could be.  We can make them believe-  in both of us."_ He's right, we could, but there's something else that comes with it that he's not saying.

"But they'll  _fear_ both of us, and that's not what I want."  I stand up, getting myself out of his space.  I can't let this go on.  Even if I do wish I could have a family, maybe even if it was with Pitch, this isn't the way.  "We both know you're lying, anyway.  You want to use me to defeat the Guardians and then throw me away like last week's trash.  For the last time, Pitch, leave me alone."  It was the worst thing I could have said.

Pitch stands up and brushes himself off, but doesn't leave.   _"You tell me repeatedly to leave you alone, yet that is what you fear most of all.  Still, I cannot make you want my company.  Just one more thing, before I go."_  I turn around from my position of having been about to leave, myself.  As much as I hate it, I've been caught off-guard by how genuine Pitch has been, and don't see it coming when he rips my staff directly out of my hand, quickly using his knee to break it in half.

The pain is like none other.  I give a shout as every inch of my body feels jolted out of place.  I feel like I'm drowning for a moment before it goes away and suddenly  _something_ _important to my very being_  is missing.

 _"I'm sorry, Jack.  You have a bad habit of interfering."_  

"Wh-....Wait.." I rasp out and reach out for help as Pitch walks to a nearby shadow, turning around to give me one, last, regretful look.   _"You said you wanted to be left alone."_ He's at the verge of tears.  He obviously cares.  Why is he doing this if he cares?  No, stop it, he never cared.  I'm just seeing what I want to see.

 _"So **be** alone."_  Pitch finishes in a fit of resentment and turns away, letting the shadows envelop him.  I run as fast as I can to catch up to him, but I'm too late.  I pick up the two broken pieces of my staff that Pitch has left lying on the ground as though they don't matter, and I don't know, maybe they don't, anymore.

........

I'm not sure how long I wander Antarctica after that.  I'm not paying attention.  I can't fly anymore.  It's like the wind can't even hear me.  My body is getting stiff and hard to move by now.  I'm hardly even walking, I feel like a zombie.  This goes on, getting worse and worse until I simply can't take it anymore and collapse on an iceberg, the staff pieces rolling away from me during impact.

Pitch was right.  I can't stand being alone.  I'm so scared and cold, and there are too many clouds here, I'll never see the moon again.  I'm falling asleep, I think.  I've never slept before, but this certainly seems as though what it would be like.  Maybe it won't be so bad.

Just when I think I will fall asleep and never wake again, I hear the distant chirp of Baby Tooth.


End file.
